John f



(No Model.)

- J. F. MAINS.

MAIL SACK CRANE.

$10 447,471. Patented Mar. 3, 1891.

witness/w UNTTED STATES JOHN F. MAINS, OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR OF THREE-FOURTHS TO BRUCE CARR, HARVEY M. LA FOLLETTE, AND EDXVARD J. ROBISON,

ALL OF SAME PLACE.

MAI L-SACK GRAN E.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 447,471, dated March 3, 1891.

Application filed July 10, 1390.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN F. MAINS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Indianapolis, in the county of Marion and State of Indiana, have invented a new and useful Improvement Hail-Sack Cranes, of which the following is a specification.

Myinvention relates to an improvement in a mail-sack crane for which my application for to a patent, Serial No. 348,861, has been allowed.

The objects of my present improvement are, first, to provide improved means for temporarily securing the mail-sack to the crane, whereby the tearing of the sack or the rings I 5 therefrom may be prevented; second, to provide means for catching a mail-sack dropped from a moving train, and, third, to provide a tripping-arm for operating a mail-sack dropper, and means for automatically swinging said arm into and out of the path of a mail-sack dropper mounted on a moving car, all as hereinafter fully described.

The accompanying drawings illustrate my invention.

Figure 1 represents a side elevation, showing the outgoing mail-sack in position to be delivered, the net spread for catching the incoming sack, and the arm for tripping the mail-sack dropper extended. Fig. 2 is afront elevation showing the position of the parts after the outgoing sack has been taken from the crane and the incoming sack has been received. Fig. 3 is a view in perspective, on a larger scale, of the improved means for attaching the outgoing sack to the crane.

A is a post, preferablyof metal, erec ed beside the railroad and having a pair of arms B and C pivoted thereto, so as to swing in a vertical plane, and adapted to hold the outgoing niail-sack S extended between them, being in this respect similar to the device shown in my above-mentioned application.

In the device there shown, as in all other mail-sack cranes, so far as I am aware, the vertically-swinging arms, between which the mail-sack is extended, are provided at their outer ends with tips or spurs which enter the rings or loops on the ends of the mail-sack, and are pivoted at one end to the vertically- 50 swinging arms, so as to swing horizontally thereon, so that when the sack is caught by Serial No. 358,298. (No model.)

the catching-fork on the mail car the tips yield laterally to the movement of the sack. It has been found in practice that when the mail-sack is struck by the catching-fork the effect is to bend the sack and thus to shorten the sack. To prevent the tearing of the sack or its connection with its end rings under this strain dependence has heretofore been had on the lateral yielding of tips and the vertical yielding of one or both of the arms; but it is found that the arms do not yield vertically quickly enough to prevent the rings from being torn off, and the tips being designed to swing laterally only on the arms cannot approach eachother or the catchingfork, but in swinging laterally tend rather to increase the strain on the sack. For the purpose of avoiding this difficulty each of the vertically-swinging arms B and O is provided on its inner side, near the end, with a hook (Z, to which a short bar E is attached by means of an eye F, formed in the bar, so that the bar is free to swing both laterally andinward toward the arm. The end of the arm extends beyond the end of the bar E and bends inward to form a rest h for the free end of the bar.

For the purpose of presenting a slight resistance to the lateral movement of the end of barE the end of the bar is made concave transversely, and the bearing-surfaced of the rest h is made correspondingly convex.

In securing the mail-sack S to the arms the rings or loops on the opposite ends of the sack are slipped, respectively, onto the free ends of bars E, which are then engaged with the rests h, thus holding the sack extended in the position shown. Vhen the sack is struck by the catching-fork, the free ends of bars E are first drawn laterally off of their respective rests, and are then free to swing both laterally and vertically toward each other, so that the sack is quickly released and excessive strain is avoided.

For the purpose of preventing the rings of the sack from slipping inward along the bars E, I provide in each of the arms B and O a notch j, in which the outer edge of the ring rests.

For the purpose of securely catching a mailsack dropped from a train I pivot to the mast A, below the arm 0, a third arm L, the free end of which is suspended from arm U by a chainm. ()therchainsnn,connectedbytransverse chains 0 0, form a net, which is attached at its ends to the arms C and L. Arms 0 and L are sustained in a horizontal position, and the net is held open by the mail'sacl; S. The incoming sack T is caught by the chains, and, the outgoing sack S being at the same time taken away, arms C and L fall, and the chains are drawn over the sack '1, so as to envelop it, as shown in Fig.

For the purpose of dropping, a sack with the greatest safety from a moving car I have invented a device havinga trip-lever for discharging the sack, said lever being operated by coming in contact with a fixed object arranged beside the track. I have filed for said device a separate application for a patent of even date herewith, and I have represented said trip-lever in Fig. 1 of these drawings by the dotted lines ac.

For the purpose of providing an object for said trip-lever to strike against, which will be automatically placed in the path of the.

trip-lever by the act of suspending the outgoing sack from the crane, and which will be automatically withdrawn when the outgoing sack is removed, I mountin a bearing R, secured to the mast, a shaft 5, having at opposite ends duplicate bent armsf t. Secured to shaft 3 is an arm 11-, which is connected with the rearward extension of arm B by a link n. A rm B is held normally in a vertical position bythe counter-weight y, and the bent arms 25 are then held out of the path of the trip-lever :11, as shown in Fig. 2; but when arm B is drawn down to a horizontal position shaft 5' is turned and the arms 2. are turned downward and forward into the position shown in Fig. 1, where they are held so long as bag S is in position. In this position the trip-lever will strike one of the arms 1' when approaching in either direction.

I claim as my invention 1. In a mail-sack crane having a pair of horizontal arms arranged to hold a mail-sack extended in a vertical position between them, the combination, with one of said arms, of a short bar adapted to enter the ring of a mailsack and hinged at one end to the arm so as to swing laterally thereon and also vertically toward the sack, said arm extending beyond the free end of said bar and forming a rest therefor, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. In a mail-sack crane, the combination of the arm having hook (Z and convex bearing 7), and the bar E, having eye F and a conoaved free end, all arranged to cooperate substantially as specified.

In a mail-sack crane, the combination of the arm adapted to swing in a vertical plane and held in a horizontal position by a mailsack suspended from the crane, and the flexible not attached at its upper end to said arm and suspended therefrom and attached at its lower end to an arm projecting laterally from the crane-mast, all being arranged to co-operato substantially as set forth, whereby the net is held extended by the mail-sack suspended from the crane and is collapsed when said sack is removed, so as to enfold a sack received therein, as set forth.

t. In a mail-sack crane, the combination of the mast, arm B, pivoted thereto, shaft 3, mounted in a bearing on the mast and having bent arms I, arm 2/, and link n, all arranged to co-operate substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

J GEN F. MAINS. 'itnesses:

II. P. 1100]), V. M. Ilioon. 

